Hope Wept

‘World War II prompted the largest displacement of human beings the world has ever seen-although today’s refugee crisis is starting to approach it’s unprecedented scale. But even the millions of European Jews displaced from their homes, the United States had a poor track record offering asylum. Most notoriously, in June 1939, the German ocean liner St. Louis and it’s 937 passengers, almost all Jewish, were turned away from the port of Miami, forcing the ship to return to Europe; more than a quarter died in the Holocaust,’ according to Smithsoniamag.com.

‘The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II was the forced relocation and incarceration in camps in the interior of the country of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestors who lived in the Pacific coast. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens,’ according to Wikipedia.

Citizens from the following countries are affected for 120 days by President Trump’s Executive Order banning their entry into the United States, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen. This ban includes persons with a Green Card. This Order bans Syrian refugees until further notice.

‘In September, Hungary authorized its army to shoot rubber bullets and tear gas at desperate refugees on its border. This decision followed increasing and often violent clashes between authorities and refugees in the area. Meanwhile, nations worldwide were clamping down their borders, even when it went against their traditional and cultural principles. Britain, for example, has always drawn a distinction between immigrants and refugees. For centuries it has welcomed the destitute and those fleeing persecution-from the Huguenots escaping Louis XIV in the 1720s-70s to the Uganda Asians trying to get away from Idi Amin in the 1970s. Yet earlier this month Britain’s ruling Tory Party bared 3,000 child refugees-and made persistent efforts to limit Britain’s Syrian refugee intake. It is a pattern which is being repeated all over Europe. Those countries which are taking more refugees in (such as Germany) are experiencing unprecedented volumes of internal opposition-and one need only flick quickly through the comments section of any refugee-related Facebook article to see the horrible vitriol with which the safe condemn the suffering. But why? Where does all of this anger come from? Why are the refugees so despised in some quarters?’, according to I Am Syria?

It appears that many confuse the Muslim faith with ISIS. The Muslim faith has it’s roots in the Middle East and traces back to Abraham. ‘The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda. 15 of the 19 were citizens of Saudi Arabia, and the others were from the United Arab Emirates (2) Egypt and Lebanon,’ according to Wikipedia.

“Here’s a look back at the major terrorist attacks that have taken place on US soil since 9/11, including the nationalities of the perpetrator, or perpetrators.

-2001 Anthrax attacks-The FBI concluded Bruce Ivins, a top biodefense researcher, was the key suspect for the attacks, although he was never charged for any crime. Ivins was American.

-2002 DC sniper attacks-Over the course of three weeks in 2002, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo killed 10 people and critically injured three others in Washington DC, Baltimore, and Virginia. Muhammad was born as John Allen Williams in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Malvo is from Jamaica.

-2006 UNC SUV attack-Mohammed Reza Taheri-aza intentionally rammed into people on the UNC Chapel Hill campus. Nine people were injured, none seriously. Taheri-aza was reportedly an Iranian-born US citizen.

-2006 Seattle Capitol Hill massacre-Kyle Aaron Huff opened fire in a rave afterparty in Seattle’s Capitol Hill, killing six and wounding two others. Huff was American, from Whitefish, Montana.

-2006 Seattle Jewish Federation shooting-Naveed Afzan Hauq shot six people, one fatally at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building. Haq was a US citizen of Pakistani descent.

-2008 Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting-Jim David Addison killed two people wonder seven others at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Addison was American.

-2009 Arkansas recruiting office shooting-Abdulahakim Mujahid Muhammad shot and killed one military recruiter and seriously wounded another at a Little Rock, Arkansas Army/navy Career Center. Muhammad, previously known as Carlos Leon Bledsoe, was American.

-2009 Fort Hood Shooting-Nidal Malik Hasan, a US Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others in Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan was born in the US to Palestinian parents.

-2012 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting-Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people and wounded four others at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Page, who was active in white supremacist groups, was an American.

-2013 Boston Marathon Marathon Bombing-Double bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured at least 264. The perpetrators were brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. According to FBI interrogators, the two were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs,but were not connected to any known terrorist groups. Tamerlan was born in Russia but was a permanent resident of the US, while Dzhokhar was born in Kyrgyzstan and became a naturalized US citizen in 2012. Both were ethnically Chechen.

-2013 Los Angeles International Airport shooting-Paul Anthony Ciancia opened fire at Terminal 3 in LAX, killing one and injuring several others. Ciancia is American and grew up in Pennsville, New Jersey.

-2013 Overland Park Jewish Community Center shooting-Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., a neo-Nazi whit supremacist, committed a pair of shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas, killing a total of three people. Miller was American.

-2014 Las Vegas shooting-A married couple, Jerad and Amanda Miller, committed a shooting spree in Las Vegas, killing three people as well as themselves. Both were American and supported extreme anti-government views.

-2014 Queens hatchet attack-Zale H. Thompson attacked four New York City Police Department officers with a metal hatchet, injuring two. A civilian was also injured after police opened fire on Thompson. Thompson, who was American, was described by police officials as a self-radicalized Muslim convert who was inspired by terrorist groups.

-2014 slayings of NYPD officers-Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinkley killed two on-duty NYPD officers, reportedly as revenge for the deaths pf Eric Garner and Michale Brown. Bristly was born in the US to a Muslim African-American family.

-2015 Charleston church shooting-Dylann Roof killed nine people and injured one during a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Roof, a white supremacist, is American and was sentenced to death on Jan. 10.

-2015 Chattanooga shooting-Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four Marines and wounding two others. Fifth Marine died from his injuries two days later. Abdulazeez, a naturalized US citizen was born in Kuwait to Palestinian-Jordanian parents.

-2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting- Robert Louis DearJr., a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic, killing three and injuring nine others. Dear, who is American,was ruled incompetent to stand trial and was indefinitely confined to a Colorado State mental hospital.

-2015 San Bernardino attack-A married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 civilians and injured 22 others in a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Farrok was born in the US to Pakistani parents, Malik, who was a permanent US resident, was born in Pakistan but grew up in Saudi Arabia.

-2016 Orlando nightclub shooting-Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 at a mass shooting at the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Sateen was an American born in the US to Afghan parents.

-2016 shooting of Dallas police officers-Micha Xavier Johnson ambushed a group of Dallas police officers, killing five and injuring nine others. Johnson, a former Army reservist, was an American.

-2016 Minnesota mall stabbing-Dahir A. Adan committed a mass stabbing at the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, injuring 10 people. Adan was born in Kenya and became a naturalized US citizen in 2008.

2016 New York and New Jersey bombings-Over the course of three days in September, three bombs exploded and several devices were found in New Jersey and New York City, injuring at least 30 people. The alleged perpetrator was Ahmad Khan Rahimi, and Afghan born US citizen.

-2016 Ohio State University attack-Abdul Razal Ali Artan carried out an attack on the Ohio State University campus injuring 13. Arian, a student of the university, was a Musim Somali immigrant.

2017 Fort Lauderdale Airport attack-A mass shooting occurred at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport near the baggage claim in Terminal 2 on Jan. 6. A total of five people were killed and six others were injured. Esteban Ruiz Santiago, the alleged shooter, was indicted on 22 counts by a federal grand jury on Thursday. Santiago is an American, born to Puerto Rican in New Jersey,” ( The above information taken from People Magazine Posted on January 29, 2017, at 10:00 A:M: EST.)

For our history…with all of our human rights mistakes…we often have risen to the aspirations of the Lazarus poem. Amidst all of our darkness of deed and thought…yet we still were the beacon of freedom and safety and opportunity to the abused and hurting of the world. When we leave the bedrock principles that have identified us as the beacon of light to our planet…do we also turn our back on the greatness of our character?

Has our Beacon been snuffed out?

Where are we going…who will be be when we arrive…and how will the nations of the world treat us when we are persecuted and afraid and homeless?

‘But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ Matthew 19:4 KJV

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9 responses

Unfortunately, facts and reason can do little to fight back against these acts of hate and prejudice. I honestly believe this will go down in history as one of mankind’s worst moments ever. But the voices of reason and tolerance must not go silent. We must speak out and not be afraid of doing so. Congrats for writing this post!